Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto - Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I do own the plotline of this story.
Author's Note: This is a little idea I got when it was Swop-Ya-Hairtie Day at my school. Swop-Ya-Hairtie Day is an initiative of the students back in the seventies when the teenage people like to be rebellious and thought swopping their hairties would be a good way to be so. Ahem. Yes, we Dutch people are indeed crazy. Anyhow, on Swop-Ya-Hairtie Day, everyone on our school with hair long enough to fit in a hairtie (my friend Jason wears em in his bangs since the rest of his 'do' is to short) wears one to school and you swop it with the person you end up sitting next to, be it a friend, be it an enemy, be it a stranger. This happens every period. Yes, you never get your original hairtie back. Anyhow... That's the inspiration behind it all! ENjoy, and please leave me a nive review, minna-san!
Ino reached behind her head, hooking two fingers around the purple band before undoing it and letting her soft blonde hair run free. She wrapped the hair tie around her left wrist and shook her head from left to right, golden tresses flying about. The girl sensed someone staring at her, and she turned around, brushing her bangs behind her ear in the process.
Shikamaru's watchful eyes burned into her cerulean blue ones, and she turned away with an embarrassed look.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's just…" Her both ears barely registered his words and she walked towards him, sitting down cross-legged to listen to his words.
"It looks much prettier down."
"That's not true… When I was little, my mom always tied it up, saying I looked prettier that way. I always believed that to be true, and I guess while I grew up the habit just stuck with me." She smiled, gazing into the fire.
Nights like these were his favorite, when the two of them sat together on guard. Usually Chouji fell asleep after dinner (he always ate too much), and Ino was most accustomed to taking the first shift. However, he was never fully at ease when she was out there alone. Often, he'd stick with her and together they would sit around the fire, gazing in the flames and saying little to nothing. It was enough.
"But I think it looks better down." He replied stubbornly, in a lazy tone that made her want to smack him repeatedly until he would finally show he cared for something, that some stuff mattered.
"You don't wear your hair down." She grinned at the beautiful come-back. Usually when she engaged into an argument with Shikamaru, she wasn't able to come up with such a reply. And he would win every single of their arguments with ease, even if he didn't try. Yet she kept on pushing, and pushing. Because she like to hear him talk.
"That's for different reasons, Ino. It's not comfortable to have your hair sweeping in your face at times, especially in combat. Besides, it's not very manly."
Ino smiled at her sudden idea.
Reaching for the ponytail behind his head, she whispered down Shikamaru's left ear:
"Then let's make a deal."
And from that night on, one evening in the week, one could spot two figures prancing about Konoha's main street. A male and a female. The girl would wear a brown band around her wrist, and the boy a matching purple one. Waves of blonde and brown cascading down their backs.